Flying High in the Clouds, Alpha LSG Streamlines Its IT with Getronics

Flying High in the Clouds, Alpha LSG Streamlines Its IT with Getronics
The global ICT services provider Getronics is completing a comprehensive IT
transformation project for the UK number 1 in-flight caterer
Business Wire
London -- July 17, 2013
Alpha LSG, the leading UK in-flight caterer has partnered with Getronics on a
significant IT transformation project to modernise its systems and
infrastructure. In a deal worth £10 million, Getronics is integrating all the
company’s systems on to its cloud platform, simplifying business processes and
dramatically increasing efficiency.
Alpha LSG operates from all Major UK & Ireland Airports and provides catering,
in-flight retail and logistics services to over 75 airline customers,
including Thomson (part of TUI Travel PLC), Thomas Cook and Monarch, serving
16 airports across the UK. Acquired by air travel services provider, dnata in
2010, Alpha Flight Group then entered into a joint venture partnership with
LSG Sky Chefs Europe in October 2012 for a UK-only joint venture, which became
effective on 01 October 2012. The new company has combined revenues of more
than £300 million and around 3,600 employees.
The newly formed Alpha LSG was keen to replace its distributed IT systems with
a modern, efficient infrastructure, to improve desktop management and
workspace efficiency, increase flexibility and build scope for future
innovation and upgrades. As a travel business, the company also needed a
scalable solution with the ability to handle the seasonal peaks and troughs of
the travel calendar. A transition to a cloud based services was identified as
the best solution for the organisation.
Following a comprehensive tendering process, Alpha LSG chose to partner with
Getronics due to its understanding of the brief and business requirements, its
extensive experience in the travel and transport sector, as well as its
commitment to developing the most appropriate solution in partnership with the
client. Unlike many other vendors, Getronics worked with Alpha LSG to create a
tailored solution rather than seeking to force a prescriptive solution upon
the business.
Getronics was tasked with transitioning Alpha LSG’s IT infrastructure to the
cloud in just three months, to maintain stability and minimise any negative
impact on business operations.
This was an ambitious project, which included:
*Transitioning all business data and over 750 employees to a cloud services
model
*Migrating all business applications to the cloud to ensure 24 x7
availability
*Complete replacement of over 500 desktops with thin client devices and
virtual desktops to enable mobile working
*Installing a new dual provision WAN infrastructure in each of Alpha LSG’s
27 sites to improve network traffic flow
Charlie Goakes, IT Director at Alpha LSG, said: “Since the data acquisition in
2010, we have been working with distributed legacy IT systems that were
constraining productivity, creating inefficiencies and additional cost while
limiting innovation and development. Through working with Getronics, we have
integrated all our systems on to a single cloud platform, dramatically
increasing efficiency and giving us the flexibility we need to compete in a
constantly evolving and competitive marketplace.”
Cloud powered business benefits
By implementing a cloud-based system, Getronics has also enabled Alpha LSG to
manage costs by moving to an on-demand model and paying only for the
infrastructure and services it needs. The ability to scale up to tackle
seasonal peaks leads to significance efficiencies as infrastructure is not
lying dormant for many months of the year. Additionally, the cloud model
overcomes licensing issues – enabling the business to access the most up to
date versions of business critical software without having to manage upgrades
in-house.
In the competitive travel sector an ‘always-on approach’ is fundamental to
winning and retaining business, and here again a cloud model provides multiple
benefits. Employees can now access company applications from anywhere and at
any time, giving the business maximum flexibility. Cloud also optimises
business processes and improves business continuity and disaster recovery,
ensuring that Alpha LSG minimised downtime and can offer mission critical
services to customers 24 x7.
Finally, by converting to thin client based technology on site, Alpha LSG will
also reduce its energy bill by around £50,000 per annum since implementation
completed in January.
Mark Cook, CEO of Getronics, said: “Business agility is crucial in the travel
market, with companies required to flex to meet evolving customer demands over
the course of the year. Alpha LSG was looking for a partner who would help the
company integrate and modernise its systems and Getronics proved that we have
the knowledge, capability and experience to deliver within a tight timeframe.
Alpha LSG is already seeing the benefits of its new system and we’re confident
these will continue in the months and years ahead.”
About Getronics
The Getronics family is an ICT Services group consisting of the Getronics and
Connectis brands and is owned by the AURELIUS Group, a holding company
headquartered in Munich, Germany. With an extensive history that extends over
125 years, the Getronics family has approximately 4,000 employees in 13
countries across Europe, Asia Pacific & Latin America, and has a complete
portfolio of integrated ICT services for the large enterprise and public
sector markets. This includes Workspace, Applications, Unified Communications,
Data Centre, Cloud, Consulting, Partner Technology, Managed Services and
Security.
Getronics is the lead in the Getronics Workspace Alliance, a unique model that
provides customers with a consistent IT service throughout the world, with one
single point of contact and billing entity. According to independent research
by Ovum in September 2012, the alliance collectively manages 7.4M client
end-user devices, positioning it within the top 3 players in the world.
Contact:
3 Monkeys Communications
Anna King / Laura Spence / Olivia Hughes
020 7009 3100
Getronics@3-monkeys.co.uk